Material encapsulation in poly(methyl methacrylate) shell: A review

Material encapsulation is a relatively new technique for coating a micro/nanosize particle or droplet with polymeric or inorganic shell. Encapsulation technology has many applications in various fields including drug delivery, cosmetic, agriculture, thermal energy storage, textile, and self-healing polymers. Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) is widely used as shell material in encapsulation due to its high chemical stability, biocompatibility, nontoxicity, and good mechanical properties. The main approach for micro/nanoencapsulation of materials using PMMA as shell comprises emulsion-based techniques such as emulsion polymerization and solvent evaporation from oil-in-water emulsion. In the present review, we first focus on the encapsulation techniques of liquid materials with PMMA shell by analyzing the effective processing parameters influencing the preparation of PMMA micro/nanocapsules. We then describe the morphology of PMMA capsules in emulsion systems according to thermodynamic relations. The techniques to investigation of mechanical properties of capsule shell and the release mechanisms of core material from PMMA capsules were also investigated. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136, 48039.     

Recent Biophysical Issues About the Preparation of Solute-Filled Lipid Vesicles

Here we report some recent biophysical issues on the preparation of solute-filled lipid vesicles and their relevance to the construction of “synthetic cells.” First, we introduce the “semi-synthetic minimal cells” as the liposome-based cell-like systems, which contain a minimal number of biomolecules required to display simple and complex biological functions. Next, we focus on recent aspects related to the construction of synthetic cells. Emphasis is given to the interplay between the methods of synthetic cell preparation and the physics of solute encapsulation. We briefly introduce the notion of structural and compositional “diversity” in synthetic cell populations.     

Simple Sequence Repeat Markers in Genetic Divergence and Marker-Assisted Selection of Rice Cultivars: A Review

Sequencing of rice genome has facilitated the understanding of rice evolution and has been utilized extensively for mining of DNA markers to facilitate marker-assisted breeding. Simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers that are tandemly repeated nucleotide sequence motifs flanked by unique sequences are presently the maker of choice in rice improvement due to their abundance, co-dominant inheritance, high levels of allelic diversity, and simple reproducible assay. The current level of genome coverage by SSR markers in rice is sufficient to employ them for genotype identification and marker-assisted selection in breeding for mapping of genes and quantitative trait loci analysis. This review provides comprehensive information on the mapping and applications of SSR markers in investigation of rice cultivars to study their genetic divergence and marker-assisted selection of important agronomic traits.     

Iterative equalization combining algorithm in intersymbol interference channel

To realize joint optimization of spatial diversity and equalization combining in the intersymbol interference (ISI) channel, an iterative equalization combining algorithm is proposed. The proposed algorithm uses the coefficients of Turbo equalization to calculate the combination weights without estimating the signal to noise ratio in each diversity branch. The equalized symbols from different diversity branches are combined, and the extrinsic information output from the decoder is fed back to the equalizers, so as to exchange soft information between the equalizers and the decoder. The performance of the proposed algorithm is analyzed using the extrinsic information transfer (EXIT) chart and verified by simulations. Results show that our approach fully exploits time domain information from the multipath channel and spatial domain information from multi receiving antennas, which efficiently improve the performance of the receiver in the severe ISI channel.     

Activity-Directed Synthesis: A Flexible Approach for Lead Generation

Activity-directed synthesis (ADS) is a structure-blind, functional-driven molecular discovery approach. In this Concept, four case studies highlight the general applicability of ADS and showcase its flexibility to support different medicinal chemistry strategies. ADS deliberately harnesses reactions with multiple possible outcomes, and allows many chemotypes to be evaluated in parallel. Resources are focused on bioactive molecules, which emerge in tandem with associated synthetic routes. Some of the future challenges for ADS are highlighted, including the realisation of an autonomous molecular discovery platform. The prospects for ADS to become a mainstream lead generation approach are discussed.     

嵌入式盲文单手输入系统设计与实现

计算机录入编辑盲文是信息处理的特殊应用领域，是特殊教育中的重要研究课题。文中将盲文制作为特殊符号，通过制作字库，编写个性化码表，然后嵌入到主流输入法，从而实现盲文与汉字混排以及实现单手盲文输入。该系统具有易学易记性、盲文编码多样性、嵌入性强等优点，并通过实验证明输入盲文效率能提高5~6倍，在盲文出版、盲文印刷、盲文教学等领域有重要的应用价值。但盲文字符在不同平台(如智能手机)与不同操作系统兼容性问题还有待进一步研究开发。     

p-Median and p-dispersion problems: A bi-criteria analysis

Given a collection of n locations and a symmetric measure of distance (difference) between each pair of locations, we seek to identify (select) a subset of p locations so as to achieve two distinct objectives. The first objective is to use the selected locations as centers (medians) of p groups that would partition the entire collection and minimize the total distance between the locations and their respective group medians. The second objective is to maximize the minimum distance (diversity) among the selected locations themselves. We study this problem as a multi-objective optimization problem and propose an iterative algorithm to obtain its non-dominated frontier. At each iteration we construct and solve a 0–1 integer programming problem. Through a computational experiment we show that this algorithm is computationally effective for small to medium size instances of the problem. We also propose a Lagrangian heuristic algorithm for solving larger instances of this problem.     

Significant population genetic structuring in Rhyzopertha dominica across Turkey: Biogeographic and practical implications

Rhyzopertha dominica is a key pest of stored grain. Understanding the movement of this beetle on broad geographic scales is crucial, particularly when developing strategies to prevent the spread of phosphine resistance. We assessed population genetic structuring in this pest across Turkey, using a combination of mitochondrial (cytochrome oxidase I) and microsatellite markers. In addition, we screened samples for Wolbachia, as this endosymbiont has previously been suggested to be associated with low mitochondrial genetic diversity in this beetle. Mitochondrial genetic diversity was low, with only six haplotypes identified. The genetic diversity was, however, substantially higher than that previously found in Australia or India, suggesting that R. dominica may have originated in the Middle East. Wolbachia were detected only at a single site, indicating they are not impacting the mitochondrial genetic diversity of R. dominica across Turkey. Microsatellite markers indicated there is significant geographic genetic structuring across Turkey, even among sites less than 100 km apart, suggesting there is little movement of beetles across regions within the country. This contrasts with the significantly higher levels of gene-flow found in Australia and the United States. We suggest that the limited movement of beetles across Turkey may be due to a combination of the historically localised agricultural practices (which limits anthropogenic movement among regions), and the mountainous landscape (which limits active flight among regions). Our results demonstrate that the movement of stored product pests may differ significantly across studies conducted in different countries. As a consequence, phosphine resistance management strategies must incorporate region specific information on the extent of beetle movement.     

The Algorithm and Its Application of a Multi-Channel Adaptive Decision-Feedback Equalizer

1　IntroductionOneofthekeyproblemsinhigh speeddigitalradiocommunicationistheInter Symbol Interfer ence (ISI)causedbythemulti pathbetweenthetransmitterandthereceiver.Becauseoftherelativemovementbetweenthereceiverandthetransmitterandthecontinuouschangeoftransmissionmedia,ISIisusuallytime variant.Inthepasttwotothreedecades,abroadstudyofthetype ,structureandadaptivealgorithmofadaptiveequalizershasbeencarriedouttomitigateISI[1～ 7] .Withtheintroductionofadaptiveantennasanddiversityreceptiontec…     

一种改进的MC-CDMA系统结构

MC-CDMA在频域扩频时实际上是一种频率分集,对于频率分集重数的要求通常小于子载波的数目N,故扩频因子可以小于子载波数目。改进了这种MC-CDMA系统的结构,通过在频域引入交织器,使交织后频率分集各分量经历独立的哀落,从而提高了抗哀落能力。最后给出了用系统仿真软件SPW仿真的结果。